Lab fox
by Philomena Kuroi
Summary: Tails gets ill and is kidnapped. Now it's up to Sonic and the gang to save him. Set in Sonic X. Better then it sounds, trust me. Updated.
1. Chapter 1

Hey peeps, I'm BACK!!!  *Everyone runs for cover* Ok, Yaza, Kin, wanna do the disclaimer?

Kin: No.

Yaza: OK!!!  Espina does not own Sonic, or Tails, or any related characters.

Kin: Ok, before insanity ensues, let's go to the fic.

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"Put jam in the sandwiches, no not blackberry, STRAWBERRY!!!  Gees Knuckles, you really can't cook can you?"  Amy shouted at Knuckles as he 'made' sandwiches for the picnic.  

"I'm trying, I'm trying!  Stop shouting in my ear!" Knuckles glared back.  Chris laughed

"You two sound like you're married." 

"WE DO NOT!" They both shouted.  Tails giggled as Chris fell into the picnic basket.

"I think the idea is to MAKE the sandwiches, not CRUSH them!" Laughed Sonic, "Now hurry up before the sunsets."

"But it's the morning."

"Exactly."

            After about another hour of preparations, they were ready to go.  Since Chris and Amy couldn't run as fast as the others, they went on the bus with the picnic basket, whilst Sonic, Knuckles and Tails ran, or flew.  It took half an hour for them all to arrive at the spot they had chosen to go to, and before they began they took some time to do a little site seeing.  The surrounding area was a plain of grass the sloped down to a huge glistening lake.  A waterfall poured over the side of a mountain cliff into the lake, making a calm splashing noise as it joined with the water below.  The terrain around the lake was much the same as the field they were on; it was a flattish grassy plain that bloomed with flowers of all kinds.  Surrounding the whole area was a thick, but serene forest.  The sun was shining brightly in the sky and it seemed like the perfect day.

            "Ok, shall we begin?" Asked Sonic as he laid the rug they had brought on the grass.  They all nodded and began unpacking the food.

"This place is nice." Said Sonic as he took a bite of his chilli dog. (A/N: What did you expect?)

"Yeah, it's real quiet." Agreed Tails.

"I like it too.  I've never been here before, but I passed it once and figured it would be a nice place to have a picnic."  Chris said picking up a jam sandwich, "What do you think of it Amy?"

" I like it, but I would like it better if Knuckles had made more STRAWBERRY jam sandwiches."

"Well if you had told me before hand..." Knuckles began to argue back.

"Guys, guys, we're here to have fun and relax, not fight a war."  Sonic pulled a football out of his bag, "Anyone for a game?"  They all spread out, ready to play.

"Ok, Chris and Amy versus Knuckles and Tails, I'll help both teams."  Sonic said as he began the game.

"Knuckles, go long." Sonic shouted.  Knuckles ran back and caught the ball in his hand.

"Tails."  He threw it high up in the air; Tails flew up and caught it.

"This isn't fair, Tails can fly." Amy complained as she and Chris began losing 30-1.  They started a new game and this time swapped teams.  Half way through, Sonic realised Tails was no longer playing, but sitting on a nearby tree root.

"Wait a sec, carry on playing." He told Chris as he walked off. "Hey buddy, what's up?"

"Nothing, just feeling a bit sick."  Sonic placed his hand on Tails' forehead.  He quickly recoiled it.

"You're burning up."  He said as the others gathered round him, having finished their game.

"We should go home, you don't look so good." Knuckles stated.

"No, I'm fine, really.  Finish the picnic, I don't want to ruin it for you guys." He said sadly.

"Tails, you're not well.  We have to go home."  He crouched down in front of his friend; "We'll come back and finish it when you're better, ok?"

"Ok."  Sonic smiled slightly and stood up.

            Amy looked up from the food she was currently packing up, 

"How are we gonna get back, Tails can't run or fly there, and there's not a bus again for another two hours."  Chris stood up and looked thoughtful for a second then clicked his fingers,

"I know, I can call my Grandpa on my cell phone, he'll come and pick us up."  He pulled out his phone and dialled a number,

"Hey, Grandpa, can you come and pick us up, Tails feels sick and there isn't another bus for two hours.  Ok, thanks.  Bye."  He put the phone back in his pocket, "He's on his way." He said to them as he continued packing up.

"K buddy?  He should be here soon." Sonic said.

"Thanks Sonic." Tails whispered.

"Hey, what are best friends for?"

            It was a matter of minutes before Chris' Grandpa arrived,

"Ok guys, hurry up, get in, I haven't got all day you know."  They all bundled in the car and it sped off.  The journey back seemed to last forever, the road was empty, and yet they had to stop at traffic lights repeatedly, and Tails wasn't getting any better.  Tails had fallen asleep with his head rested on Sonic's lap.  Sonic subconsciously stroked the kitsune's head as he stared off into space, occasionally looking at his now shivering friend.  When they arrived they all got out of the car and went up to Chris' room, Sonic carrying Tails.  Once up there, he laid Tails on Chris' bed and turned to the others.

"Chris, you know about this place better then me, any idea what he's got?" Chris shrugged,

"From all I can tell, it's a bad fever."  Sonic nodded slightly.

"Fever huh?  Poor kid." He stroked his friend's head gently.  "I hope it-" He was cut off by a loud explosion coming from the field they were just in.

"I'll check it out.  Look after Tails." Sonic sped off towards the explosion.  When he arrived, he found a large amount of the area demolished, but no sign of anyone accountable for it.

"I bet this was Eggman's doing."

"Then you would win that bet hedgehog."  Sonic looked up and found Eggman towering above him in yet another giant robot.

"What d'ya want this time, Egg Head?"  Sonic glared up at him.

"Same as usual, world domination, to destroy you." He said, but made no move of attack.  "So hedgehog, care to tell me where the chaos emeralds are?"

"No."

"Very well, I will just have to take them from you by FORCE!"  He shouted as his robot launched several missiles at him, all of which missed.  Sonic repeatedly tried to hit the robot, but after that attack, all Eggman was doing was dodging.

'He's up to something, I know it, but what?' He attempted again to hit the robot, but Eggman dodged,

"It's been fun Sonic, but I have business to attend to.  Fare badly hedgehog."  He shouted as he dropped a final set of missile towards Sonic.  He quickly dodged them and ran back to Chris' house, ready to investigate what was going on.

            He arrived quickly at Chris' house to find the door knocked down.  He cautiously stepped inside and looked around, after finding no enemies, he crept up to Chris' room.  Inside, everyone was lying on the floor unconscious, but otherwise unharmed.  Sonic ran over to Chris.

 "Chris, what happened, where's Tails?" Sonic asked.

"These guys came in, they released this knock out gas and took Tails, they-" He was cut off as Sonic grabbed the collar of his shirt and started shaking him,

"What?!  They took him?  How could you let this happen?  I asked you to look after him!"  Knuckles grabbed Sonic's arm,

"Sonic, I know how you feel, but getting angry won't help.  Calm down."

"I am calm!"  He shouted letting go of Chris and turning to Knuckles.

"Sonic, we can't save him if we argue.  Relax."

"Fine." Mumbled Sonic as he pushed past Knuckles and walked towards the door, only to be stopped by Amy.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To find him."

"You have no idea where he went, you won't be helping him by running around aimlessly."

"I hate to admit it, but she's right.  As much as I would like to go save him, we don't know where they took him, we have to think rationally."  Knuckles said forcing Sonic to sit down.

"Fine.  But if anything happens to him, I'm blaming you."

"Right."  Knuckles nodded.  

"Ok, to begin with, did anyone get a good look at them?" Sonic asked finally calming down.

"Yeah, they looked like scientists or something, they had lab coats on, and they had complicated gadgets and stuff." Amy said taking a seat on the floor.

"Right.  And on the back of their coats, they had the letters NOMR."

"Well, I would say our first step is to find out what that stands for." Said Chris' Grandpa as he entered the room.  Chris walked over to his computer and typed in NOMR.  Everyone crowded round as he clicked the first search item.

"_NOMR, the National Organisation Of Mammal Research, official site._" Chris read out from the page.

"That's gotta be it, unless there's another NOMR." Sonic said standing back.

"Yep, the name is copyright, so I presume this is the only one."

"Great.  Ok, now check where the HQ is."  Sonic said and Chris clicked on a link marked, _Locations_.

"Oh boy.  There are like 10 in this country, he could have been taken to any of them." Chris exclaimed.

"Well, which one is nearest?" Asked Knuckles.

"Um, there's one near the beach and one in the centre of the city."  They nodded.

"Ok.  How about I go check one, while Knuckles checks the other?"

"K."  They all agreed.

"We'll set out tonight."  Sonic said as they began preparations.

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Ok, that's all for now.  I hope you liked, BTW: There is no Cream in this fic, don't ask me why, I just don't like her and kinda forgot to put her in, so, pretend she's staying at someone else's house of something.  Please review.  ;)     


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, thanks for the reviews people.  Miles, glad to see you're back on FF.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic, SEGA does.  But if I did...

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Sonic skidded to a halt in front of a large grey building.  The letters NOMR were marked clearly on the wall in front of him.  The whole building was surrounded by a wire fence, which was lined with barbed wire.  There was one gate that was tall and electrified, no way in there.

"Ok," Sonic whispered into the communicator Chris had given him.  "I'm here.  How do I get in?"

"There's no way in except the gate.  Amy can make a distraction, as soon as the gate opens, run in, I'll guide you from there."

"Right." Sonic ran forward and crouched beside the fence.  Almost instantly he saw Amy run to the fence and start hitting it with her piko hammer.  As the gate opened, Amy ran and hid, whilst Sonic ran inside.

"You in?" A voice asked over the communicator.

"Yeah."

"Ok, look for an air vent, once inside, put your scope on." Chris ordered and Sonic began scanning the building.  He smiled as his eyes landed on a small air vent high up the wall.  The blue hedgehog climbed up a pile of boxes and removed the cover of the vent.  He quickly crawled in and put the scope on as Chris had said.  Finding no threats, Sonic began to crawl along the duct.  He rounded the corner to find one laser scanning up and down the vent.  Sonic began to crawl again, ducking as the laser passed over his head.  Sonic was relieved to find the end of the tunnel with the laser as he turned the corner.

"Where do I go now?" He asked.

"Keep crawling until you find a grating with what looks like a lab beneath you.  Once there, be cautious, and go down into the lab.  If Tails is here, that's where he'll be."  Sonic nodded and began crawling forward.  He crawling through many twists and turns but finally found what he was searching for.  He slipped out of the vent, and making sure no one was there, he scanned the cages for his friend.

"Sonic, is he there?" Chris asked, but before Sonic got a chance to reply, two scientists entered the room.

"Wha?  Security!"  Sonic ran forward and used to two men as steps up to the air vent.

"He's in the vent." He heard one of them call.  Suddenly, lasers started firing randomly towards the vent.  Sonic sped up his crawl.  He reached the tunnel with the laser and hurried along it, narrowly missing it's red beam.  As he reached the end of the vent, he slid outside onto the pile of boxes and noticed that the gate was still open to allow a group of guards in.  Sonic sped past them, grabbing Amy's arm on the way, and back to Chris' house.  When Sonic arrived at the house he went up the stairs and into the lab.  He took one look at their faces and sighed,

"No luck huh?"

A young fox lay almost perfectly still in a small, cramped cage.  His twin tails rested over him like a blanket.  The only movement he made was his chest rising and falling as he breathed in and out, and the occasional shiver he omitted.  A tall man with long black hair and sunglasses marched along the white hall where the cages were.  Two buff looking men in black suits and a scientist followed him.  He stopped in front of the cage where Tails lay and looked down at the scientist,

"Is this it?" He asked gruffly.

"Y-yes sir.  We captured him l-last night, sir." The scientist stammered.

"Good." The man with long hair typed a code in the side of the cage and opened the barred door, causing its still weak prisoner to wake up.  "Begin tests immediately.  We have three days, then we have to hand him over.  I want to get as much research done as possible."  One of the men in suits picked up the now trembling fox and pulled out what looked like a collar.  He quickly fitted it on Tails and handed him to the long-haired man.  As soon as the man took the kitsune, they began walking back the way they came.  They carried on walking until they came to a metal door.  The scientist typed in a code and leaned forward to allow a machine to do an iris scan.  The door slid open and closed again as they entered.  The room they walked into was empty, except for a few boxes and broken machines.  The group walked to one end of the room and typed a code into a small computer, making what looked like a wall to part and giving them entrance into an elevator.  They went inside and pressed a button, there was a smooth gushing noise as the lift went down and stopped abruptly.  The doors opened and they stepped out into a huge lab.  Tanks filled with a green liquid lined the walls, whilst computers and one table with metal straps took up the centre.  On one wall there was a large silver cabinet beside another tank, this one filled with a white liquid.  As the door to the lift opened, all the scientists present turned to see who entered.  When they saw who it was, they all gasped, dropped what they were doing and saluted the man.

"Vingt, sir!" They all said in unison.  Vingt walked into the middle of the room.

"At ease." He said and everyone relaxed and picked up their work.  Vingt held up Tails by his namesakes, receiving a yelp from the frightened fox.  "I want you to forget everything you've been doing and focus on this until further notice." He ordered.  "I will be visiting again at some point, so no slacking!"  He handed Tails to the scientist he had been with, "I'll leave you in charge Acht.  Don't fail me." He turned on his heel and left.  Acht smile evilly don't at the trembling fox.

"Where am I?" He asked weakly.  The scientist threw Tails on the table and began strapping him down.

"You're in a research lab." He said holding Tails down so he couldn't escape while he was being tied down.  "And today, we're studying you."  He clicked his fingers and a scientist who looked to be in his twenties hurried over to him.  "Get me two syringes with clean needles, an empty bottle and a bottle of formula T." He ordered.  The other scientist ran off and soon he was back with the equipment.

"Now Foxboy, hold still."  Acht leaned forward and plunged the empty syringe into Tails' arm, causing the fox to scream.  Acht waited until the syringe was filled with Tails' blood then took it out.  He handed the once empty syringe to the other scientist, who emptied it into the empty bottle.  Acht then got the second syringe, and half filled it with a clear white liquid.  He then stuck this in Tails' arm as well.  There was a moment of pain, and then everything went black.

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Hope you liked that chapter.  Please review.  


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